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Lebanon War Produces Repercussions in Iraq

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It was noteworthy that since Israel launched its air, sea and ground offensive on his country the Hizbollah leader who has turned into a popular Pan-Arab icon, Hasan Nassrullah, has lashed out at and ruled out any future "American" government in Lebanon, indirectly slamming the pro-American government in Iraq. Earlier he had publicly hailed the Iraqi resistance without directly criticizing the collusion of his co-religious "brothers."

The Iraqi sectarian-led mass protests were politically hollow because they were not reinforced by either anti-occupation political or concrete moves on the ground.

It was ironic to listen to the thousands of protesters sincerely chanting anti-American slogans and announcing their willingness "to go and fight in Lebanon" while the troops of the "American enemy" were a few meters away guarding against the protests spelling out of control against them and their Iraqi allies.

Those slogans could have been more credible had just a few of the protesters dared to demand their leaders to overcome their sectarian loyalties and join their Sunni compatriots in resisting the foreign occupation.

Al-Sadr Has a Role in-waiting

For example the Sadrist movement, the main leading force behind the protests, could have gained national credibility by at least quitting its five cabinet posts and the 30 seats it holds in the Iraqi parliament, which prop up al-Maliki government, whose spokesmen are day and night hailing the Americans as the liberators, allies and friends of the Iraqi people, thus prolonging the occupation.

The silent voice of the Sunni-led Iraqi national resistance was much more louder in its solidarity with the Shiite-led Lebanese resistance than the deafening shouts of the protesters.

The disillusion is on the rise.

"The government formed after the fall of the (Saddam Hussein-led Baath) regime hasn't been able to do anything, just make many promises. And people are fed up with the promises," said Sheikh Bashir al Najafi, a senior Shiite leader. "One day we will not be able to stop a popular revolution." (4)

Similarly Amman al Janafi, a 39-year-old dentist from Najaf, criticized Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani for urging Shiites to vote for the U.S.-engineered Iraqi constitution and participate in the last elections. "The failure of the Islamist political parties broke the trust between the Marjaiyyah [the Shiite Leader's Council] and the people. Even if Ayatollah Sistani himself were nominated in the next elections, I would not vote for the slate." (5)

The Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr is very well positioned to play a historic role should he overcome his sectarian loyalties and his personal anti-Baath vengeance to give priority to the national resistance to foreign occupation. It is a reason for high eyebrows that he advocated "armed struggle" against Saddam Hussein, but is opting for "peaceful" and "democratic" opposition to the occupying power.

Only such an option would reinforce real national unity, pave the way for real national reconciliation, abort the U.S.-British sectarian plans to disintegrate Iraq, shorten the plight of the Iraqi people and bring the overdue peace sooner than later by withdrawing the so-called Shiite smokescreen for perpetuating the foreign occupation.

Moreover, it will unmask foreign exploitation of the Shiite tradition inside Iraq and consequently relax the regional sectarian tension outside Iraq, a tension fomented by various foreign provocateurs.

Such an option is also a political survival outlet for al-Sadr, who is obviously targeted not only by his sectarian rivals but more importantly by the occupying powers.

In a report leaked to the media recently, outgoing British ambassador to Iraq, William Patey, warned that "preventing [al-Sadr's] Jaish al-Mahdi from developing into a state within a state, as Hezbollah has done in Lebanon, will be a priority."

Could Sayed Moqtada free himself from a sectarian captivity to deliver and survive? Only time will tell.

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*Nicola Nasser is a veteran Arab journalist in Kuwait, Jordan, UAE and Palestine. He is based in Ramallah, West Bank of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.
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